The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and s ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

dedicated to the study of

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

as well as a registered

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

. The current Society was established in 1842 to "investigate and promote the study and knowledge of the structure, the affinities, and the

history of languages The evolution of languages or history of language includes the evolution, divergence and development of languages throughout time, as reconstructed based on glottochronology, comparative linguistics, written records and other historical linguisti ...

". The society publishes a journal, the ''

Transactions of the Philological Society ''Transactions of the Philological Society'' is a linguistics journal published three times a year by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Philological Society. It has appeared since 1854, making it the oldest scholarly linguistics journal. It is curr ...

'', issued three times a year as well as a

monographic series Monographic series (alternatively, monographs in series) are scholarly and scientific books released in successive volumes, each of which is structured like a separate book or scholarly monograph. Semantics In general books that are released se ...

. The first Philological Society, based in London's

Fitzroy Square Fitzroy Square is a Georgian square in London. It is the only one in the central London area known as Fitzrovia. The square is one of the area's main features, this once led to the surrounding district to be known as Fitzroy Square or Fitzro ...

, was founded in 1792 under the patronage of Thomas Collingwood of

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...

. Its publication was titled ''

The European Magazine, and London Review ''The European Magazine'' (sometimes referred to as ''European Magazine'') was a monthly magazine published in London. Eighty-nine semi-annual volumes were published from 1782 until 1826. It was launched as the ''European Magazine, and London Rev ...

''. The Philological Society is a member organisation of the University Council of General and Applied Linguistics.

History

The Society's early history is most marked by a proposal in July 1857 to create an up-to-date dictionary of the English language. This proposal, issued by

Richard Chenevix Trench Richard Chenevix Trench (Richard Trench until 1873; 9 September 1807 – 28 March 1886) was an Anglican archbishop and poet. Life He was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Richard Trench (1774–1860), barrister-at-law, and the Dublin wri ...

, Herbert Coleridge, and

Frederick Furnivall Frederick James Furnivall (4 February 1825 – 2 July 1910) was an English philologist, best known as one of the co-creators of the ''New English Dictionary''. He founded a number of learned societies on early English literature and made pion ...

, members of the ''Unregistered Words Committee'', and an article by Trench, entitled ''On Some Deficiencies in our English Dictionaries'', eventually led the Society to formally adopt the idea of creating a comprehensive new dictionary on 7 January 1858. In 1952, the Society hosted the seventy Congress of the

International Congress of Linguists The International Congress of Linguists (ICL) takes place every five years, under the governance of the Permanent International Committee of Linguists (PICL) / Comité International Permanent des LinguistesCIPL. The 19th ICL was held in Geneva, Swi ...

in London. At a later date, the Society was instrumental in the early stages of the

Survey of English Dialects The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before loca ...

conducted by

Harold Orton Harold Orton (23 October 1898 – 7 March 1975) was a British dialectologist and professor of English Language and Medieval Literature at the University of Leeds. Early life Orton was born in Byers Green, County Durham, on 23 October 1898 and w ...

between 1950 and 1961, helping to develop, amongst other things, a questionnaire for use in gathering data.

Activities

The society holds seven regular meetings each academic year; traditionally, four take place in London at

SOAS University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

, the other three in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

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, and at another university outside of South East England. Most meetings consist of hour-long academic papers being presented by one or more scholar. Occasionally, round table or panel discussions are organised. Every two years, together with the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

the Society organises the

Anna Morpurgo Davies Anna Elbina Morpurgo Davies, (21 June 1937 – 27 September 2014) was an Italian philologist who specialised in comparative Indo-European linguistics. She spent her career at Oxford University, where she was the Professor of Comparative Philolo ...

Lecture, named in honour of its former president.

Prizes and Bursaries

Once every two years, the Society awards the

R. H. Robins Robert Henry Robins, FBA (1 July 1921 – 21 April 2000), affectionately known to his close ones as Bobby Robins, was a British linguist. Before his retirement, he spent his entire career at the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at the ...

Prize for an article on a subject within the Society's area of interest; the prize bears the name of a former president of the Society. Every year, the Society further awards a limited number of bursaries valued at £5,000 each to students embarking on taught postgraduate programmes in all areas of linguistics or philology.

Governance

The Society is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, having been incorporated on 2 January 1879. The Society is governed by its trustees, consisting of the President (appointed at an Annual General Meeting for a period of three years, with the option to renew for one further year), the Vice-Presidents (appointed for life at an Annual General Meeting; usually former presidents), the other Officers, and up to twenty ordinary members of Council, who are elected annually at an Annual General Meeting. As of February 2021, the Officers of the Society are: *Secretary:

Simon Pulleyn Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genu ...

*Treasurer: Peter Austin *Secretary for Publications (Transactions):

Lutz Marten Lutz Marten is a German linguist and africanist. He is currently professor of general and African linguistics at SOAS University of London. Since 2020, he is also the editor of the Transactions of the Philological Society. Academic career After s ...

*Secretary for Publications (Monographs):

Melanie Green Melanie is a feminine given name derived from the Greek μελανία (melania), "blackness" and that from μέλας (melas), meaning "dark".Richard K. Ashdowne *Secretary for Student Associate Members: Joshua Booth

List of presidents

The following list is based on the sporadically occurring statements concerning membership of the Society's Council as printed in the

of the relevant years.

References

External links

*
Official blog of the Philological Society
{{authority control Learned societies of the United Kingdom 1842 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1842 Linguistic societies Educational charities based in the United Kingdom